Neshaminy girls basketball team beats Council Rock South on 'Taylor Night'

Friday

Feb 9, 2018 at 7:00 AMFeb 9, 2018 at 9:10 AM

By Tom Pfaff Correspondent

MIDDLETOWN — Neshaminy guard Taylor Kelly got an unexpected perk of being the lone senior on the girls basketball squad.

Ahead of Neshaminy hosting Council Rock South on Thursday evening, Kelly’s teammates renamed their senior night Taylor Night, complete with a sign featuring her player photo.

So after a pregame ceremony honoring Kelly and also acknowledging Golden Hawks senior forward Allison McGowan, Neshaminy got a combined 42 points from junior forwards Alli Harvey (team-high 16) and Brooke Mullin (15) plus sophomore point guard Kristin Curley (11), and Kelly added six points on a pair of fourth-quarter 3-pointers in a 53-34 Suburban One League National Conference victory.

With the win, Neshaminy (16-5 overall, 10-2 SOL) clinched a share of the SOL National title, as Council Rock North had clinched its share on Tuesday. Abington can clinch its share of the SOL National title with a win at Bensalem, rescheduled for 5:30 p.m. Friday.

After the game, Kelly was grateful for the Taylor Night experience against the backdrop of a key victory for the team.

“It was really nice that my teammates did that for me, because I was the only senior,” Kelly said about the gesture. “… It was nice to be able to get a win on my senior night, to be able to clinch a share of the (SOL National) title: We knew it was going to be a big game going into tonight.”

Even as an opponent, McGowan saw the humor in Neshaminy’s specialized renaming of senior night.

“I loved that,” McGowan said. “It’s awesome.”

The Hawks (7-14, 3-8 SOL) will close out their regular season with a 5:30 p.m. Friday tipoff at Harry S Truman.

Against Neshaminy, South scored the first four points of the game, all by freshman guard Nicole Blaustein, on a fastbreak layup and later a pair of free throws with 5 minutes, 53 seconds left in the first quarter.

Though Neshaminy scored the next 13 points, spanning into the second quarter, the Hawks stayed competitive and trailed by just four points at halftime, 21-17.

“Neshaminy is a great team, and it was great that we were able to battle hard,” said Blaustein, who scored 10 first-half points on her way to a team-high 16 points, tying Harvey for game-high honors. “When we do well against these tough teams, it shows us that we have a lot of young talent, and that we can do well moving forward.”

But Neshaminy pulled away with a 13-0 spurt, as Harvey got it started with back-to-back 3-pointers, then Curley scored Neshaminy’s next seven, on a pair of fastbreak layups, including one with an assist from Mullin, followed by a trey.

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